The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Loading ...

Loading ...

This story appears in the {{article.article.magazine.pretty_date}} issue of {{article.article.magazine.pubName}}. Subscribe

Protestors hold signs during a demonstration against fracking in California outside of the Hiram W. Johnson State Office Building on May 30, 2013 in San Francisco, California. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

The world knows of California’s unemployment, spending, and budget problems. With over $1 trillion in public debt, the Golden State's fiscal situation is surely challenging. Amazingly, a giant gift was laid at California’s doorstep in the form of abundant oil fields accessible by fracking. Rather than promote the budget-soothing jobs and the tax revenue that comes with it, California Democrats have lined up to stop it.

California is the land of misplaced priorities, highest-in-the-nation taxes and even higher regulations. Recently, the California Public Policy Center, relying primarily on official reports prepared by the State Controller and State Treasurer, determined that “the outstanding debt owed by California’s state and local governments, using responsible actuarial assumptions, is almost certainly in excess of $1.0 trillion.”

That $1 trillion in debt compares to a state economy of approximately $2 trillion and a state budget of about $100 billion. Much of that debt is unfunded pension and medical liabilities for government employees – a problem that is getting worse, not better.

To make matters even worse, California’s reported unemployment remains among the highest in the nation. It is important to remember that the unemployed pay fewer taxes and use more government benefits. The best way to reverse that dynamic is with a growing economy.

So what is California to do? Apparently kick a gift horse in the mouth.

According to a state report, California Monterey Shale formation may exceed 15 billion barrels of oil, which is the equivalent of five years of U.S. oil imports. More importantly, at least to California, nearly three million jobs could be created in the next seven years and nearly $25 billion in state and local tax revenue could be realized IF – if the state permitted access to the oil through fracking. (Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure to fracture shale rocks, releasing natural gas inside.)

Of course, this is not just an academic discussion. The state with the lowest unemployment in the country at 3.3%, North Dakota, faced this issue already. According to the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of States data, “North Dakota’s economy has outpaced every state since the recession ended in 2009, with the fastest growth in personal income, tax revenue, jobs and home prices.”

California Democrats appear uninterested in such numbers. Instead, they have lined up to prevent access to the Monterey oil and the jobs and tax revenue that goes with it. No less than 10 anti-fracking bills are making their way through the legislature. Most are designed to slow down, if not ultimately stop, the oil extraction by fracking.

A cottage industry has emerged, manned by environmentalists, over the alleged horrid dangers of fracking, which now rests on top of the phalanx of global warming alarmists in California. Simply Google “California” and “fracking” and you can get a glimpse. Of course, facts are an optional accessory for the environmentalists and their Democrats in this fight. Evidence of ground water contamination from fracking is as scant as rationality in the California State Capitol, which continues to push budget-busting high-speed rail in the face of zero rider demand.

Still you must give credit to the anti-fracking Democrats for ideological purity. Regardless of the facts, they stick to their environmentalist agenda - and this is hardly the first time. They have already driven manufacturing out of California - literally over a million jobs – in the name of environmentalist Nirvana.

Unfortunately for the real world, they have sent those jobs and that manufacturing in many cases to places like high polluting China - and now their pollution is making it to California, not to mention other places around the world. It is, of course, ironic, and ideological, that California’s Global Warming Law is actually going to add carbon to the atmosphere because it continues to drive manufacturing to places like China. For the unemployed in California, however, it is a cruel irony slated to get worse.